diff --git a/kernel/watchdog.c b/kernel/watchdog.c
index 7f9e7b9306fe..f41334ef0971 100644
--- a/kernel/watchdog.c
+++ b/kernel/watchdog.c
@@ -490,10 +490,10 @@ static void watchdog_enable(unsigned int cpu)
 	 * Start the timer first to prevent the NMI watchdog triggering
 	 * before the timer has a chance to fire.
 	 */
-	hrtimer_init(hrtimer, CLOCK_MONOTONIC, HRTIMER_MODE_REL);
+	hrtimer_init(hrtimer, CLOCK_MONOTONIC, HRTIMER_MODE_REL_HARD);
 	hrtimer->function = watchdog_timer_fn;
 	hrtimer_start(hrtimer, ns_to_ktime(sample_period),
-		      HRTIMER_MODE_REL_PINNED);
+		      HRTIMER_MODE_REL_PINNED_HARD);
 
 	/* Initialize timestamp */
 	__touch_watchdog();